Method and system for a network of merchants collecting payments for each other

• US 9,984,359 B1
• Filed: 11/06/2014
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Patnaik, Akaash, Patra, A. Premasis
• Primary Examiner(s): Ebersman, Bruce I
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gaw, Mark H
• Application Number:
  US14/534,760
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems

Abstract

A method and system for obtaining payment from a customer that includes receiving a collection request at a payment facilitation device from a payment collection request device of a merchant, storing the collection request in a collection request repository, determining, using the collection request, a location of the customer, and determining, using the location of the customer, that an in-person payment device of a collecting entity is located near the location of the customer. The method also includes transmitting a notice of collection request to the in-person payment device and receiving a payment request from the in-person payment device at which the customer made a payment via the in-person payment device after the notice of collection request was received by the in-person payment device. Additionally, the method includes transmitting, based on the payment request, a payment to a merchant account associated with the merchant.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining payment from a customer comprising:

receiving, over a wireless communication network, a collection request at a payment facilitation device from a payment collection request device of a merchant;

storing the collection request in a collection request repository;

determining, using the collection request, a location of the customer, wherein the location comprises an address of the customer;

pinging a plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of a plurality of collecting entities;

in response to the pinging, detecting a location of a mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities;

determining, using the location of the customer and the location of the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities, that the mobile in-person payment device is located near the location of the customer;

transmitting, over the wireless communication network, a notice of collection request to the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities using a network connectivity component of the mobile in-person payment device, wherein the mobile in-person payment device;

receives, in response to receiving the notice of collection request over the wireless communication network, an in-person payment from the customer,

creates, in response to receiving the in-person payment, a request to pay the merchant, and

sends, to the payment facilitation device over the wireless communication network using the network connectivity component, the request to pay the merchant;

receiving, using the network connectivity component, a request to pay the merchant from the mobile in-person payment device; and

transmitting, over the wireless communication network, based on the request to pay the merchant, a payment to the merchant account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection request comprises customer location information and a payment amount.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities is a computing device comprising a payment acceptance software application and is operatively connected to a payment acceptance module.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the notice of collection request comprises merchant information and a payment amount.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the merchant information includes information associated with the merchant account.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the request to pay the merchant comprises customer information and at least a portion of the merchant information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the customer information comprises information associated with a payment card of the customer.

8. A system for obtaining payment from a customer comprising:

a payment collection request device of a merchant configured to;

send, over a wireless communication network, a collection request to a payment facilitation device;

a plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of a plurality of collecting entities, each configured to;

receive, in response to receiving a notice of collection request over the wireless communication network, an in-person payment from the customer;

create, in response to receiving the in-person payment, a request to pay the merchant; and

send, to the payment facilitation device over the wireless communication network, the request to pay the merchant using a network connectivity component of a mobile in-person payment device;

a computer processor;

a collection request repository; and

the payment facilitation device comprising the computer processor and operatively connected to the payment collection request device and the mobile in-person payment device and configured to;

receive, over the wireless communication network, a collection request from the payment collection request device of the merchant;

store the collection request in the collection request repository;

determine, using the collection request, a location of the customer, wherein the location of the customer comprises an address of the customer;

ping the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities;

in response to pinging the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities, detect a location of a mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities;

determine, using the location of the customer and the location of the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities, that the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities is located near the location of the customer;

transmit, over the wireless communication network, the notice of collection request to the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities using the network connectivity component;

receive, using the network connectivity component, a request to pay the merchant from the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities; and

transmit, over the wireless communication network, based on the request to pay the merchant, a payment to the merchant account.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a payment acceptance module operatively connected to the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the payment facilitation device is operatively connected to the payment collection request device and the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities via the wireless communication network.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the collection request comprises customer location information and a payment amount.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of the plurality of collecting entities is a computing device comprising a payment acceptance software application and is operatively connected to a payment acceptance module.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the computing device is one selected from a group consisting of a mobile device, a desktop computer, a server, and an automated teller machine.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the notice of collection request comprises merchant information and a payment amount.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the merchant information includes information associated with the merchant account.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the request to pay the merchant comprises customer information and at least a portion of the merchant information.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the customer information comprises information associated with a payment card of the customer.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions for obtaining payment from a customer which, when executed by a computer, cause a computer processor to:

receive, over a wireless communication network, a collection request at a payment facilitation device from a payment collection request device of a merchant;

store the collection request in a collection request repository;

determine, using the collection request, a location of the customer, wherein the location comprises an address of the customer;

ping a plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of a plurality of collecting entities;

in response to pinging the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices of a plurality of collecting entities, detect a location of a mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices;

determine, using the location of the customer and the location of the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices, that the mobile in-person payment device is located near the location of the customer;

transmit, over the wireless communication network, a notice of collection request to the mobile in-person payment device of the plurality of mobile in-person payment devices using a network connectivity component of the mobile in-person payment device, wherein the mobile in-person payment device;

receives, in response to receiving the notice of collection request over the wireless communication network, an in-person payment from the customer,

creates, in response to receiving the in-person payment, a request to pay the merchant, and

sends, to the payment facilitation device over the wireless communication network using the network connectivity component, the request to pay the merchant;

receive, using the network connectivity component, a request to pay the merchant from the mobile in-person payment device; and

transmit, over the wireless communication network, based on the request to pay the merchant, a payment to the merchant account.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the collection request comprises customer location information and a payment amount.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the notice of collection request comprises merchant information and a payment amount.